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Saving planet Earth

20 June 2001

By Duncan Graham-Rowe

A satellite network that gave advanced warning of catastrophes such as hurricanes and oil spills would save countless lives. Yet governments are letting a golden opportunity to set up such a network slip away, says a leading space scientist.

The proposed network could provide round-the-clock monitoring of the entire planet for the first time. It would raise the alarm at the first sign of a disaster and would give relief workers invaluable data as events progressed, says Richard Holdaway, director of the Space Science Division at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.

Photo&colon; Tom Stoddart/PG

“Too many parts of the world are not monitored,” agrees Philippe Boulle, former head of the UN’s International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. “It is a terrible tragedy that nobody is doing something about it.”

Using imaging technology such as infrared and optical cameras and synthetic-aperture radar, the network could spot a wide range of disasters, from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and oil spills to forest fires, landslides, industrial pollution, algal blooms, hurricanes and tsunamis.

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To provide 24-hour global coverage, at least 180 satellites are needed, says Holdaway, who was asked to carry out a feasibility study by Britain’s Office of Science and Technology (OST). Existing satellites can’t provide such coverage, he says (see p 3).

Launching so many satellites would be prohibitively expensive. But the instruments could be piggybacked on other satellites. As luck would have it, Teledesic, a company based in Bellevue, Washington, is planning to put 288 telecommunications satellites into low circular polar orbits.

High accuracy

Low orbits are ideal for disaster monitoring, as they provide greater accuracy than is possible from higher orbits. “Most of the systems for monitoring hurricanes are geostationary, for instance, so you can’t see very much detail,” says Holdaway.

Working with Teledesic would bring the price tag down to about &dollar;600 million, a fraction of the &dollar;400 billion disasters cost globally each year. But Holdaway hasn’t heard from the OST since he presented his findings.

“They have not done anything,” he says. “This could well be the last chance we have to do anything with the cooperation of a satellite communication group.” The OST told New Scientist it has put the recommendations to the relevant international agencies.

Teledesic has made no firm commitment, but it could carry an extra 20 kilograms in each satellite – more than enough for the instruments. “If it proves to be something we can accommodate and is something that is good for humanity, we would definitely be interested in discussing it further,” says David Patterson, Teledesic’s chief scientist.

Second chance

It is already too late for Teledesic’s first round of launches in 2003. But the company will launch the remainder of its constellation in 2005 and 2006. That gives governments and international organisations six months to reach an agreement, Holdaway says. “The clock is ticking.”

Even advanced countries such as the US could benefit, Holdaway says. This was shown two years ago with Hurricane Irene. “They evacuated a large part of Florida because even in the last hours they couldn’t tell which way the hurricane was going,” explains Holdaway. Lives were lost needlessly as a result, he says.

Just launching the network is not enough, says Richard Saull of the British National Space Centre. “Unless you can get the information to the people on the ground you may as well not bother.”